Unfriended: Dark Web
Unfriended: Dark Web is a 2018 found footage horror film and the stand-alone sequel to the 2014 horror film, [[Unfriended|''Unfriended]]. It premiered at the South By Southwest Film Festival in March 2018. It was written and directed by Stephen Susco. It stars Colin Woodell, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Betty Gabriel, Connor Del Rio, Andrew Lees, Stephanie Nogueras, and Savira Windyani. The film had its world premiere at the South by Southwest festival on March 9, 2018, and was released in the United States on July 20, 2018, by Universal Pictures' OTL Releasing and Blumhouse Productions' BH Tilt. The film has received a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10; slightly lower than its predecessor. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of about 53 out of 100, based on reviews from 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Plot The plot, presumably, takes place sometime after the events of Unfriended. Matias O'Brien (Colin Woodell) is working on a new laptop that he has recently acquired, originally belonging to someone named Norah C. IV. He begins working on his new app named "Papaya", which hears the user's voice and posts their words on the screen. He is making this software for Amaya. He shows her the software on video chat, but she becomes upset because it makes it only convenient for her to understand him, but not for him to understand her, and she logs out. Matias logs out of Norah's Facebook page but keeps getting messages addressed to Norah. Matias then gets on a Skype video call with his friends - tech wiz Damon (Andrew Leeds), conspiracy theorist AJ (Connor Del Rio), DJ Lexx (Savira Windyani), and couple Serena (Rebecca Rittenhouse) and Nari (Betty Gabriel). They play a game of Cards Against Humanity while Matias tries to get back in touch with Amaya. After being suggested to clean his hard drive, Matias finds that the hard drive is full and begins removing files. Serena and Nari reveal that they recently became engaged. Serena wishes that she told her mom sooner because she is on life support due to her brain cancer. Matias sees a message for Norah, asking about payment they received for a video that Norah shared. The user, Charon68, talks to Matias through another message board, asking if the payment went through. He asks what it is for, and they mention a video, as well as trephination. Matias googles trephination, where it is discovered that it means drilling a hole in a skull. Matias stops talking to Charon68 when it gets too disturbing. Damon realizes that "Norah C." is Charon spelled backwards. The group views various videos on the laptop, most of which are girls being tortured. The last video is of a girl sleeping in her room while a kidnapper enters and looks at the camera. Matias looks up the address from the video, and discovers that a girl went missing from there: Erica Dunne, the person who's account Charon IV was using. Amaya is in the shower, so her roommate Kelly (Chelsa Alden) goes to camera ot talk to him. The screen goes black for a moment, but when it returns to normal, a hooded figure is standing behind Kelly. He knocks her out before carrying her into the closet. The figure turns out to be Norah C/Charon IV (Douglas Tait). He demands the laptop back immediately, or he will kill Amaya. Before Amaya returns, Matias notices Nari trying to call the police because of the videos. He stalls and says it was all a game he's making since it's game night. They're relieved but also upset at Matias. Lexx leaves to take a phone call. Amaya comes back and Matias tries to convince her to come over, with Charon IV putting immense pressure on him. She is still upset over the app, thinking that he's not making an effort to learn ASL for her since he only went to one class that she signed him up for. Matias admits that he got scared when the instructor said how difficult dating a deaf person could be, but he truly wants it to work out for them. Amaya decides to take the subway to meet with Matias, with Charon IV following her as she keeps the video chat open so Matias knows she is safe. To ensure Charon IV complies, Matias transfers all the crypto-currency in his account into Matias's, which freaks Charon IV out. He contacts Matias through video chat, angrily chiding him for his actions. Matias says he'll get the money and laptop back on the promise that Amaya is safe and that Erica is returned as well. Matias then receives messages from The Circle, a group of hackers all using variations of Charon as their handles. They pull Matias into The River, a dark-web message board they all use. They seem to know about Matias taking the money, and Charon IV reveals his face to talk to Matias. The Charons demand proof that Matias is Charon IV, so he tells Matias their creed so that neither of them gets killed. Matias types it in, and is briefly left alone. They see what seems to be Lexx standing on the building's roof. A Charon appears behind her and pushes her off the ledge to her death. The Circle then reveal they've edited videos of AJ to make it sound like he will shoot up a shopping mall and played it for a 911 operator. The cops enter his house and tell him to open his door. As he goes to, the Circle hacks his computer to play a loud sound effect of a gunshot being loaded. This results in the cops shooting him. The Circle then play a video of Nari and Serena talking about revealing their engagement to their friends, and about Serena's mom. The Circle show camera footage of Nari at the subway and Serena's mother on life support at the hospital. They force Serena to choose which one will live. Serena pleads with them to take her instead. When the countdown ends, the Circle pull her mom off life support, push Nari in front of a train, and kill Serena in her house. The train Amaya was in finally reaches it's destination so she gets off to take another route. Matias attempts to sign to her to stay where she is, and Damon urges Matias to leave. Matias leaves to get Amaya on his bike while leaving the laptop open so Damon can copy it's files. He talks to the Circle, saying he's been recording everything for the police to find, along with their addresses. However, the Circle quickly photoshops Matias's face over Charon IV's in Erica Dunne's video. A Charon then brings Erica into Matias's closet. Matias is forcefully added to the call from his bike and stops on the street. Damon explains that the circle had planned along for Matias to find the bait laptop and the money so it looks like he and his friends committed the crimes, so the circle can further avoid detection from the law and public eye, and Damon's feed is cut off briefly. Moments later, a Charon pulls Damon in by a noose around his neck and hangs him by his closet door. Another Charon pulls up a word document on the screen and writes a fake confession and suicide note on it, implying everyone killed themselves out of guilt. Matias then gets a call from amaya outside an unfamiliar location asking where he is, saying he changed the meeting spot, making Matias realize the circle hacked his messages to make amaya go to the factory from an earlier video. before he can warn her to run away, the circle hack his phone and launch the papaya app making it tell her to go inside, and forcefully hanging up, it cuts to a camera feed inside the factory as matias watches amaya get attacked by a charon, presumably to torture or kill her for another video. Broken, matias asks the Circle why they did all of this, and they repeat a clip of him earlier saying "After all, it is game night" revealing this is simply entertainment to the circle members qho.launch a poll to decide Matias's fate. The camera switches as Erica Dunne wakes up in Matias's apartment and goes to the computer, begging for help. She pulls a cork out of her forehead to reveal the hole in her skull from trephination and freaks out before The video cuts off, and a camera feed of Matias in the road is added as the poll finishes with the Circle deciding his death. As he looks at his phone, he is ran over by a Charon in a large van. With their job done and their crimes pinned on Matias and his friends, the members of the Circle at each scene of their death go to their cameras and take off their masks, smiling, including Charon IV, and another Charon who seems to work in law enforcement. as it is revealed that the audience's point of view was actually from a Charon's computer. Alternate Ending #1 In the second ending, Matias texts Amaya to meet him in a familiar spot; where he filmed a video of them hiking and sharing a kiss. He arrives at the site and finds a hole dug in the ground with an open casket, before a Charon knocks him out. Later Amaya arrives and the hole has been filled. She calls Matias and his ringing phone wakes him up. He realizes that he has been buried alive and tries to text Amaya about his predicament but the Circle changes all of his messages to: "I wish I could sign better." When he attempts to video chat, the Circle pixelates his mouth so Amaya cannot read his lips. Amaya is unable to hear him and stands there confused, leaving Matias to die as he runs out of air, while Charon 1 indicates to the other Charon's that their plan was a success Alternate Ending #2 In the third ending, they both successfully meet up where they first kissed. However, they are attacked by 2 Charons, and the Circle launches a vote to determine if they should live. Charon IX plays a video titled "They_Earned_It.m4v", which was a video of when Matias extorted Charon IV with his bitcoin and his computer, earning the respect of the hackers who begin to vote "Yes". Meanwhile, Erica wakes up in Matias's apartment and goes to the computer, begging for help. Release ''Unfriended: Dark Web is to be released by Blumhouse Tilt and OTL Releasing in the United States on July 20, 2018. The film premiered at the South By Southwest Film Festival in March 2018. Trivia *The film's subtitle refers to the "dark web", a section of the internet that is not indexed by web search engines, which is commonly believed to hold access to illegal content, such as drugs, firearms, hacking, hitmen, red rooms (Supposedly, Red Rooms are merely myths), kidnappers, illegal pornography, and more. *One of the Wi-Fi Names is called "ApertureLaboratories5.0", a reference to the video game Portal. *The source code that repeatedly flashes during the trailer is actually the source code for the open source software Samba, specifically version 3.3.7 of the code. *Matias and some other elements from the film appear in the 2020 browser game Bloodstreams Battles Online, revealed in December 12, 2019 by this Tweet. Category:Movies